LifeTime Grand Prix is heading into year five without one of of its few champions. The 2026 official roster was released this week. It contains just a single Canadian, a low for the series in its first four years. Notably, the original women’s champion, Canada’s Haley Smith, is not on the list.
Wildcards truly are wild
There is still a few remaining spots to be allocated through Life Time’s new wild card process, which made its debut in 2025. That saw Andrew L’Esperance gain access to the series based on results at Sea Otter and Unbound Gravel. The Canadian vaulted from wildcard entry to his second-best finish ever, in 7th overall. Notably, eventual 2025 winner, Cameron Jones, also made his way into the full series via the wildcard route.
Canadians becomes Canadian
For fans here in the Great White North, the roster looks distinctly less maple-flavoured than past years. Andrew L’Esperance is the lone Canuck on the initial roster. He earns his way in based, in part, on an impressive seventh overall at the series in 2025. That was the result of an impressively consistent 2025 series for the East Coast racer. He’ll have the relative luxury of automatic entry going into next season, so it will be interesting to see what he can do. L’Esperance will be without his Forward Racing teammate, Sean Fincham, who is moving on from Life Time, and endurance racing, after making his debut in 2024 following a successful World Cup career.
Andrew L’Esperance rides on resiliency for Life Time top-10 finish
The women’s field, though, is completely Canadian-less. Haley Smith, who won the inaugural Life Time Grand Prix and has remained a constant present at the front of the standings, will not return to the full series in 2026. After working through some health issues in 2025, her results did not automatically qualify her for next season.
Life Time Grand Prix gets a little more international, but still very U.S. focused
There’s a substantial shake-up of the Grand Prix roster this year, with nine new women and seven new men making their GP debuts. Many have raced some of the events before, but will race the full series for the first time in 2026.
That roster is also slightly more international than in years past. The women’s field is still very U.S.-based, with a handful of riders from Europe and one each from New Zealand and…
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